Forgotten Love
by LuvversLuvvie
Summary: Naruto gets critically injured while on a mission.  He is in a coma, but when he wakes up; he doesn't remember who he is or who anyone else it at all. SasuNaru
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own anyone in the Naruto world.**

**Summary: Naruto gets injured on a mission. He is in a coma, but when he wakes up; he doesn't remember a thing or person.**

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><p>Sasuke was not having a "nice" day.<p>

When people he passed by said "Have a nice day" in politeness, all it really did was worsen his mood; especially when it was one of his fangirls saying those sickly words in sultry tones trying to seduce him in some way.

Sasuke understood that the phrase was only a formality, a polite phrase to say when someone is leaving, and that the people he restrained from glaring at had no idea that his usual taciturn attitude had a real reason this time. He knew that these people did not know that those four words were one of the last things he wanted to hear now, but that didn't stop him from mentally glaring at them.

He left one store on a bad note because one of the employees told him to "have a nice day" with a smile he supposed worked on others. He couldn't help feeling a little worse. Whenever he was told that hated phrase, he was instantly reminded _why_ he was having such a not-nice day.

His dobe was out on a mission.

Without him.

Sasuke understood that his irritation at the situation was uncalled for. He knew and accepted the reality that he was on probation since coming back to the village and was not allowed to go on any missions higher than a (heavily supervised) B mission; unlike the A mission Naruto was currently on.

And it wasn't as if he was seriously _worried_ about his usuratonkachi. Of course he had the normal lover's worry, but Naruto is one of the strongest fighters he's ever known and Sasuke is actually quite proud to have such a proud and fierce ninja as a boyfriend. Naruto shouldn't have any problems in this mission, it was a simple trade-off mission of sorts; it was only ranked an A mission because Konoha was being traded information on a rogue group of ninja seeking possible asylum.

Naruto and Sakura were basically going as examples, teaching newly appointed Jounin how these missions were handled as well as being the muscle/intimidation. Sasuke's mood threatened to lift a little as he remembered Sakura telling him as Naruto was distracted by his ramen at Ichiraku's that the two new Jounin were speechlessly excited to have Konoha's Number One Most Unpredictable Ninja and local hero on their first A ranked mission.

Mood down again. Naruto is still gone with people in awe of him. Mood threatened to lift again as Sasuke imagined how flustered Naruto would be if he found out. Naruto would probably blush and try to hide how happy it made him to be accepted openly by others. Mood down; Sasuke wouldn't be there to see the cute blush on his dobe.

Naruto had been on this mission for a week and six days as of today, hence Sasuke's bad mood. Everyday apart from his significant other only worsened it. He has only been back in the village for two years and every day was important to Sasuke because it was a chance for him to repay Naruto for the years apart.

In an attempt to distract himself from Naruto's absence, Sasuke had taken a few C rank missions, even a B rank one. But Naruto was supposed to coming home today so Sasuke had stopped requesting and volunteering himself for missions two days ago. Yesterday he straightened things up around the Uchiha Mansion where the two lived together. The house was always kept pretty neat so that didn't give Sasuke much to do so he went shopping for groceries and other essential things.

Today, Sasuke didn't have much to do other than wait—and Uchihas do not wait easily. He attempted to train a little, but abandoned it as he felt antsy when he didn't know the time every few minutes. So Sasuke decided to go shopping for little things that they already had, but could run out of quickly.

When he left the last shop and was told to "have a nice day", Sasuke had finished. He now had two bags of extra instant ramen for Naruto, tomatoes for himself, and extra medical supplies for the both of them to share.

He didn't know why he had bought extra bandages and medical supplies; if they ever needed treatment, all they needed to do was to ask Sakura. Besides, neither of the two men really needed supplies at home as both hated to admit they needed medical attention unless the wound was critical. Plus, Naruto's wounds healed at an accelerated rate because of the Kyuubi.

But Sasuke has had a bad feeling in his stomach since early this morning. The last time he had this feeling was on the day he was told that Naruto had been badly beaten for refusing to give information about Sasuke. But he didn't understand the feeling in his stomach back then and he still doesn't understand it now.

Sasuke walked into their house feeling antsier than before. He knew—_knew_—that there was no reason to worry about his dobe. His usuratonkachi may be a dobe, but he takes missions seriously. Besides, Naruto had promised Sakura that he'd be at his best for the new Jounin. And the last time he doubted his dobe on a mission was when Naruto was supervising his first B mission while on probation and was surprised by Naruto sensing and consequently intercepting enemies before himself.

Sasuke had been surprised by how much his dobe had improved since he last fought with him. Naruto had not only gotten faster and stronger, but also more agile. Naruto had somehow turned battle into a dance where he was the star. He moved from enemy to enemy seamlessly and without missing a beat to his personal ballet.

Sasuke had reached the kitchen and was putting the contents of his shopping trip into their appointed drawers, but that didn't take long enough. He might have started to pace around—but there was no reason to. Uchihas don't do anything without a reason. Still. . .he couldn't shake his antsy feeling.

To put himself at ease as well as to waste time, Sasuke grabbed some supplies and made his way to his dobe's apartment. Even though the two lived together in the Uchiha Mansion, Naruto couldn't let go of the place he considered to be the only stable thing in his terrible childhood. Sometimes the two stayed there when they felt that the Uchiha manor was too stifling or just wanted a cozier place to stay. Naruto would also go to his old apartment when he needed some time alone, or when Sasuke needed some time alone. It was Naruto's personal safe haven.

When he arrived at the apartment, Sasuke couldn't help but relax a little. He didn't know how, but Naruto's old apartment just oozed the familiar presence of Naruto that soothed anyone who stepped inside without Naruto even being there.

Sasuke walked inside and immediately began to move things around and the memories they held rushed back. There were objects that definitely reminded Sasuke of their genin days like all the same furniture. Naruto rarely added things to his apartment unless they were important to the blonde, and he refused to throw anything away unless it was beyond repair.

The picture of their genin days still stood on his bedside table. Sasuke picked it up and smirked at their younger counterparts. Back then, the two could barely stand being near each other. They both revealed much later that they secretly held special feelings for one another during that time, but that only made their rivalry more intense.

But next to their old picture was a picture of the day Sasuke had been accepted back into the village and placed on probation. All of team seven was together as a real team—not for missions; but all as citizens of Konoha. Kakashi was still in the back, but this time Naruto had placed himself in the middle, placing an arm on either of Sasuke's or Sakura's shoulders, pulling them down into a small crouch, laughing all the while.

The last picture on his nightstand was a picture of Naruto and Sasuke on the day they decided to move in together. Naruto had jumped onto Sasuke's back and was laughing as he dangled the keys for the camera to see. And Sasuke had a small grin to show how very happy he was about the two moving in together, although his clothes were ruffled due to Naruto's unexpected piggy-back demand.

Sasuke started to wiping down the apartment after he put all the clutter in their proper places and started thinking about all that he had experienced within these walls. This was where he and Naruto both spent some sick days when they were genin. Sasuke because Naruto kept complaining that he had no idea where anything was in Sasuke's house and loudly proclaimed that he and Kakashi had decided that it would be Naruto who would take care of a sickly Sasuke so that meant Naruto was in charge.

And so he repaid Naruto the favor, and was happy he did. While Naruto barely ever got sick, when he did it was worse than others. When he got fevers, they constantly spiked to dangerous levels. It was scary to watch his best friend suffer from a simple cold, but made Sasuke feel needed; much like taking care of Sasuke made Naruto feel need.

The two also confessed to each other within these walls, and shared their first kiss and made love for the first time here. Every large step in their relationship was taken in this apartment.

It hadn't taken long to tidy up the dobe's apartment. It was still pretty clean from the last time Sasuke had cleaned it while Naruto was on an extended mission.

Sasuke made his way back to the Uchiha Mansion, wondering how long it would take Naruto to return home and back into his arms.

Maybe the feeling in his stomach was because he was on Naruto withdrawal. And he was feeling so antsy because he knew that Naruto would soon be back. That must be it.

Sasuke reached his house and found that he was slightly fidgety. Damn that Naruto, Uchiha's don't fidget. This was obviously a habit caused by the dobe's influence.

To keep himself from shamefully fidgeting, Sasuke started to wipe down the kitchen. The dobe had recently decided that it was his mission in life to be one of Konoha's top chefs. Unfortunately, the only thing the dobe really knew how to cook was his instant ramen or anything microwavable. He had little to no idea how to use a proper stove and was lost with the simplest of recipes. Sasuke was his appointed—forced—"assistant" and taste-tester. Out of pure love did Sasuke comply and eat whatever Naruto placed in front of him, but he refused to clean up whatever explosion happened in their kitchen. Naruto did "clean", but he was never as anal about keeping things spotless and reaching every nook and cranny like Sasuke so the kitchen kept him busy for a while.

He was almost finished wiping the kitchen to near perfection, when he sensed someone entering the Uchiha Compound. He may not have the senses like Naruto had trained himself for, but he was adequate enough to sense people within 30 meters. Plus, the Uchiha Compound was special and allowed Sasuke to know when people entered.

The unknown person—a ninja—was getting close at a hurried speed. Apparently they had something important to say because they were running straight to the Uchiha Mansion.

Sasuke didn't want this random ninja to see his compulsive cleaning habits so Sasuke decided to meet him at the door.

The Konoha ninja was about to knock on the door when Sasuke opened it. The ninja was younger than he was, and was obviously intimidated by the Uchiha.

The younger ninja started to stammer something, but couldn't make out more than a syllable. Sasuke cleared his throat as an indicator of his impatience.

"U-Uh, M-Mr. S-Sasu—Uhm…I-I m-mean, Mr. U-UCHIHA, s-sir! U-Uh, L-La—Lady H-Hokage asked m-me—me t-to t-tell y-you th-that y-you n-need t-to g-go t-to th-the hospital i-immediately." The younger ninja stammered, taking way to long in Sasuke's opinion.

Leaning against the doorway, Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, "The Hokage wants me to go to the hospital?"

"Y-Yes!" the boy stammered, obviously relieved that Sasuke had understood stammering that put Hinata to shame.

"Why?" Sasuke didn't allow his voice or stature to betray how confused he was. Why did he have to go to the hospital? He was in no way injured and didn't need any health report.

"I-it's M-Mr. U-Uz—Uzumaki, s-sir. H-he's b-been c-cr—cri-critically i-injured."

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><p><strong>And that was Chapter One. My inner muse has been bothering me about this idea so I decided to write it out. I'm personally glad I did because writing this flowed more than updating the other stories. But review and lemme know what you think of it.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own no one in the Naruto world.**

**I'm watching Shrek the Third. I normally hate sequels and really thirdquels, but I'm watching it for JT because I love it when he shouts "HELP! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED BY A MONSTER TRYING TO RELATE TO ME!" Oh, and Puss and Donkey. I could care less about the plot and main characters.**

**Anyhoo, Onward with the story!**

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><p>Wind stung Sasuke's face as he bounded above the buildings of Konoha.<p>

He had left the ninja at his house before he could finish his sentence. As soon as he heard "Uzumaki" he headed towards the hospital. He vaguely heard "critically injured" and that only caused him to go faster. He knew that if some stranger had been sent to their house with news about Naruto, then that meant that Naruto was in the hospital and needed him.

But this had to be some sort of precaution. It just HAD to! This is NARUTO! Naruto is one of the best ninja who has ever lived in the village! He was the one who saved Konoha from Pain! Naruto had Kyuubi sealed in him! He can also reach Sage Mode! Naruto is stronger than any other opponent he's ever faced! Naruto couldn't have been critically injured!

"Critically injured" must have been the diagnosis of some incompetent doctor, fresh from school with no real experience dealing with ninja. Naruto has survived so much "critical" injuries, brushing them off since they never really affected him like they would others.

His healing was accelerated beyond any other ninja's! Any injury would be healed within days if not instantly! Any normal wound would be healed to the point where it would be a simple bruise by the end of the day. Any "critical" injury would be healed within a month at most!

The incompetent doctor should really learn who he was dealing with.

No matter; Sasuke would make sure the doctor never made the same mistake after he berated his dobe for messing up on a simple mission and ending up at the hospital. The usuratonkachi would make up for it tonight or tomorrow night, depending on how bad these "critical" injuries really were.

Sasuke arrived at the hospital entrance within minutes of leaving. When he walked through the doors, he felt an odd combination of needing to breathe as he was slightly out of breath since he put so much energy into arriving as quickly as possible and at the same time feeling the need to hold in his breathe in anticipation until he saw his dobe.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke demanded of the female sitting it the front desk. He didn't care if it wasn't an "appropriate" time or whatever. Sasuke is an Uchiha and Uchihas get what they want. And what Sasuke wanted is to know where his dobe was.

"I, uh, um," the female stammered as a blush formed on her face.

Sasuke was _not_ in the mood to deal with bothersome fangirls. He needed to see Naruto!

Sasuke gave her a pointed stare, silently demanding for her to tell him the wanted information.

"Sasuke?"

Both Sasuke and the female who refused to give him Naruto's information looked down the hallway to see Shizune looking in their direction.

Shizune started to walk down the hallway in a small rush and Sasuke walked to the beginning of the hallway, away from the desk female.

Sasuke turned his expecting stare towards the Hokage's assistant, she should know why Sasuke was there without having to ask. There are only two reasons why Sasuke would even be in the hospital and his current reason was somewhere inside its white walls.

"Well?" Sasuke asked, annoyed that he even had to.

"Naruto's been injured and his condition _was_ critical but Lady Tsunade stabled him. Both his right arm and leg have been broken in several places. His stomach has been slashed as well as his throat. He has internal damage and he has suffered some form of brain trauma from an unknown jutsu and we won't know the effect until he wakes up. He also has numerous cuts and bruises, none of which are healing in his normal accelerated rate." Shizune recited at top speed.

Sasuke stood in shock. Naruto…was actually critically injured? No. NO! It couldn't be true! Sasuke wouldn't accept it unless he actually saw Naruto.

"Where?" was all Sasuke could ask, his voice suddenly raspy with his worry.

"Room 457." Shizune answered as she stepped out of the way.

Sasuke tore down the hallways in a brisk powerwalk. He knew that he shouldn't run and was reprimanded by his dobe whenever he was told that Sasuke had ran in the hospital whenever Naruto was brought in for the night for any injuries he had accumulated during a mission. Sasuke didn't want have Naruto scold him again when he walked in to see that he was really fine.

Sasuke didn't need to worry about asking people to move because everyone in the hallways was giving him an extra wide berth. Some even ran into the nearest room when Sasuke approached. But Sasuke paid no attention to it; his mind purely on Naruto and room 457.

When he arrived on the 4th floor, Sasuke noticed that there were less people around. He vaguely recalled that this floor was reserved for long-term patients, but he forced himself to not think about that detail. Naruto would be fine. He'd call Sasuke an idiot for worrying so much and demand for some ramen for when he left and beg for Sasuke to find a way to get him out of the hospital early.

When he arrived in front of room 457, he did not like what he saw. The door was closed. Usually, whenever Naruto was brought into the hospital, the blonde would insist that the door be kept open because he hated feeling confined to the hospital and wanted it to be clear that visitors were always allowed into his room to keep him company. Hell, Naruto did not like closed doors at their own home!

A dark feeling started to develop in Sasuke's stomach. The closed door meant nothing good.

Taking in a deep breath, Sasuke opened the door.

And froze.

There on the hospital bed was Naruto, but Naruto unlike what Sasuke had ever seen before.

Naruto was barely recognizable. He had casts on his right arm and leg; his blonde hair could barely be seen as most of it was obstructed by write bandages around Naruto's head, some covering his face; bandages covering the majority of his body. Any exposed skin was either discolored because of all the bruises he had accumulated or looked too pale because of blood loss. He was also covered with wires as he was hooked up to so many different machines. Naruto also had an oxygen mask covering the lower half of his face.

Tsunade and Sakura were both hovering around Naruto, checking bandages and machines to asses any progress. Both turned around to face the door after Sasuke opened it.

Sakura moved to the other side of Naruto with Tsunade as Sasuke walked slowly through the room in a complete daze; his attention was only on his unconscious and battered lover on the bed in front of him.

Sasuke collapsed into the chair next to Naruto—careful to not disturb any machinery or the bed.

His mind was blank in shock. Never had he ever thought in his life he would see his love in a condition like this!

Sasuke placed his hand over Naruto's unbroken hand, thanking the gods above that it was warm meaning his love had a healthy pulse. He was careful to not move Naruto's hand as he simply let his hand rest above it.

Looking up, Sasuke only had one question.

"How?" he asked.

It was Sakura who answered.

"Th-the mission was an ambush. H-he was p-protecting us-s." Sakura sniffled as she fought to not shed the tears that threatened to fall.

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><p><em>Naruto was bouncing impatiently next to Sakura as the two waited for the two newly appointed Jounin they would be assisting on the mission. Sakura almost giggled at how her friend was behaving. She absolutely loved that no matter how 'mature' Naruto has gotten over the years or how powerful he became, he would still be the same Naruto she's known for years.<em>

"_Naruto, stop bouncing! You have to set the example!" Sakura scolded. She only said so to her teammate because it was about time for the other two members of the temporary team to arrive. Sakura and Naruto had arrived early on the pinkette's demand because she felt that as the superiors on the mission they should be the first ones there, unlike her own Sensei._

"_But Sakuraaaaa." Naruto whined, but he did as she requested. Sakura had made him promise to be on his best behavior and when the blonde asked what she meant by that she answered that he would do whatever she said._

_Sakura smiled at her friend's antics. Then, she noticed two figures walking towards them. Sakura lightly poked Naruto on the side who straightened up and stood slightly behind her. She had told him that she would be in charge of the mission because she knew more about the mission and information being traded than he did so he agreed that he would support her leadership 100% with the promise of ramen as a reward._

"_Are you two Himikari and Wu?" Naruto asked from behind Sakura in a cheerful business tone to the two approaching ninja._

"_Hai!" both said in loud tones. The two were looking at Naruto with ill-hidden awe, but the blonde didn't really notice as his attention was towards Sakura._

"_And you two got the scroll from Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked._

_The two nodded as conferment, but never took their eyes off of Naruto._

"_Alright then, LET'S GO!" Naruto shouted enthusiastically as he punched the air before turning to leave. Sakura giggled as his enthusiasm for out-of-village missions had not decreased by much over the years._

_Over the next two days as the team made their way towards their destination, Sakura amused herself by noticing how much the younger two shinobi admired Naruto and hardly left him alone with Naruto being oblivious to their intentions. He continuously asked the other two if they needed help with anything whenever he caught them lingering too closely to him._

"_Are you sure they don't need any help, Sakura?" Naruto asked on the third day of the mission as the team was closing in on their destination._

"_What makes you think that?" Sakura asked with a grin._

"_Well, they are always _staring_ at me or are slow with moving around! I think they want help but they are too shy to ask but they deny it!" Naruto explained as he shot a glance over his shoulder at the two ninja behind him who smiled._

_Sakura couldn't take it anymore and burst out laughing._

"_What's so funny?" Naruto asked, clearly confused._

"_Because *giggle* they don't need any help! They are just excited to be working with their hero!" Sakura explained in a quiet voice._

"_There's a hero here? I thought we were the only ones helping them out!" Naruto exclaimed as he scanned the surrounding area. His reply earned him another burst of laughter. "What?" He asked again._

"_YOU are the hero, you dummy!" Sakura answered._

"_Me?" Naruto asked, pointing at himself with a genuinely confused expression on his face._

"_Yes you! Oh, Naruto! You should have HEARD them when they discovered that we were the ones assisting them on the mission! They are so excited to go on a mission with the village hero who defeated Pain all by himself! They even wanted to get your autograph and ask you about all your adventures but Lady Tsunade forbade them to." Sakura revealed to her friend._

"_But I'm just a normal ninja!" Naruto insisted._

"_C'mon! Are you sure I'm talking to the same Naruto who would shout our ears off over all of his amazing new skills and constantly boasts over how powerful he is practically daily?" Sakura teased._

"_I-I w-well that's just with you guys! I-I mean, I-I..I.." Naruto stammered before his head fell a little with his bangs covering his eyes._

_Sakura was going to stop traveling to check on her friend when he looked up at her suddenly and asked in a quiet voice, "Did they really say I am a hero?"_

_Noticing the significance of Naruto's serious question, Sakura nodded with a smile. She knew that having the village's approval after so many years of painful abuse at their hands meant the world to Naruto and why he had such a hard time believing the village's new perspective of him._

"_Wow." Naruto whispered, more to himself than anyone else._

_Sakura held her smile. She was truly proud of Naruto and how hard he's worked for his accomplishments._

_The team moved forward in a peaceful silence. Then when they neared the destination point, Sakura signaled that they should stop running._

_The team rearranged themselves to the two newer Jounin could present themselves to the clients so they would be able to trade off the different scrolls. Sakura and Naruto would be behind them to supervise and offer any assistance if needed._

"_From the Hokage." Himikari said formally as he handed the scroll over to two ninja they were meeting. Wu held his hand out for the scroll the team was supposed to receive in return._

"_From the Mizukage." the other ninja replied as he took out a scroll and was about to handed it to Wu._

_Each team took a respectful bow to each other. They were about to leave when all of a sudden a group of rogue ninja jumped out from the surrounding trees behind the opposite team._

_Naruto had sensed the approaching enemy ninja before anyone else so he reacted the quickest. He jumped above the rest of the confused groups and met quickly did a multi-shadow clone jutsu so he could meet all enemy ninja mid-air._

_Slashes of kunai could be heard throughout the area as Naruto and his clones met the enemy ninja._

_The two ninja they were meeting looked as equally surprised as Himikari and Wu so Sakura knew that they were not the ones who set up the ambush. Besides, she could recognize the bandana the rogues wore instead of forehead protectors as the mark of a newly developed group._

"_Hide the scrolls before helping Naruto!" Sakura ordered as she moved to grab her own kunai._

"_NO!" Naruto suddenly shouted as the opponent he was facing suddenly fell after he knocked them out with a Rasengan, "The scrolls are top priority! Don't worry about me!"_

"_But—" Sakura started._

"_GO!" Naruto shouted as he took over for one of clones as the clone escorted the other team away from the area._

_Sakura reluctantly turned away to follow her younger teammates who turned around as soon as Naruto issued the order. She knew that Naruto would handle everything soon so all she had to do was keep the team moving and defend anyone after the scrolls. After Naruto was finished, he would send some sort of signal to let her know that it would be him following them and not the enemy._

_She trusted him completely, but she still worried whenever Naruto was left alone._

_She and the others started moving around once more; they never went in the same direction for more than 7 minutes._

_Suddenly, Sakura heard rustling behind them._

"_Naruto-Senpai?" Himikari asked, turning around._

_But before Wu could join him, Sakura threw a shuriken at the rustling. It couldn't be Naruto. Naruto would send a signal._

_They heard a rough grunt that sounded nothing like the blonde and the other two understood._

_A large, bearded man with the rogue's bandana on ruffled out of the bushes. He was bruised and bloody with a wild look on his face; but it didn't look as if he was chasing but rather _being_ chased._

_Upon realizing who was in front of him, the rogue took an offensive stance and was about to attack when a shout was heard._

"_OH NO YOU DON'T!" Naruto yelled as he hit the rogue with a Rasengan._

"_NARUTO-SENPAI!" Wu shouted, standing from his defensive stance._

"_Hmm? Oh, hi guys!" Naruto said, panting a little as he turned around to face his team._

_The two younger Jounin seemed relieved and in awe to see Naruto after he took down the rogue._

"_How are things back there?" Sakura asked as she noted the injuries Naruto had accumulated._

"_Oh, I have no idea. See, this guy ran off after you guys so the real Naruto sent a couple of us after him while he and a couple other clones take care of things back there." The clone explained as he sat down to rest a little._

"_Well how were things before you left?" Sakura demanded, if the clone was this tired then that that could only mean that the real Naruto was having a tougher time than he would admit._

"_Uuuuuuuhhhhhhhh," the clone scrunched his face as he concentrated, "well after you guys left, we all had to take down the little cronies. Then the higher ups in the operation arrived and were surprised that we were there instead of the cronies with the scrolls. So they were going to go after those other guys so Naruto went to face them while he sent a couple of us after you guys and those other guys."_

"_Do you think we should go back and help Naruto-Senpai?" Himikari asked._

_Sakura was about to tell him that they were going to wait until Naruto gave a signal when she was interrupted by a sudden pained scream._

_At the same time the scream could be heard, the Naruto clone was dispersed._

_A sudden feeling of dread overwhelmed Sakura._

_No. No! That _couldn't_ mean what she refused to believe it could mean._

_Without another word, Sakura rushed back to the destination point with Himikari and Wu close behind her._

_As they got closer to the destination point, Sakura could see the results of what must have been an epic battle. Rubble was all across the area, trees had fallen over, and craters littered the ground as well as unconscious and bloody bodies._

_But no Naruto._

_Scanning the area and amount of damage done, Sakura moved westward towards the direction of a little stream nearby._

_As she and the other two got in view of the stream, she froze._

_Littered around the area were the unconscious bodies of who Sakura assumed to be the 'higher ups' the clone spoke of. These people had more serious wounds on them with more big gashes rather than little cuts like the others._

_Sakura started to walk through to look for any signs Naruto would leave to tell of his current location._

_When she neared the stream, Sakura nearly fell to her knees._

_She saw someone with blonde hair on their stomach halfway in the stream, uniform covered in blood._

_She stumbled closer. No. This couldn't be Naruto. Naruto is NARUTO! This must be a rogue playing a trick on her or something._

_She hesitantly reached over to turn that blonde over; hoping it wasn't who she thought it was. Her fingers trembled the entire time._

_When she saw the face Sakura let loose an anguished cry._

_It was Naruto. Naruto was injured. Naruto was the one with multiple wounds. Naruto was the one with a slashed stomach. Naruto was the one barely gasping for breath with a cut neck!_

_Naruto was the one injured._

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><p>By the end of the recap, Sakura was sobbing into her hands.<p>

Tsunade had a comforting hand on her assistant's shoulder as she sadly looked upon the unconscious Naruto.

All during the while, Sasuke was staring at Naruto's face while tracing circles on the hand he held.

After a few moments of watching Naruto take steady breaths of life, Sasuke spoke to Sakura.

"It's not your fault." He said while he still watched Naruto's face.

Sakura hiccupped a little and looked tearfully at Sasuke.

"The dobe always takes matters into his own hands and would probably gotten injured even worse if he was worrying about needing to protect you guys in the immediate area. You did the right thing by staying out of his way and protecting the others and the scroll." Sasuke said in an even tone.

When Sakura didn't answer he continued.

"And he would not have survived if he didn't have you as his medic." He told her, tearing his gaze from his lover to look at his old teammate.

Sakura hiccupped once more before rushing around the bed to hug Sasuke.

Sasuke inwardly groaned as he allowed her to cling to him. The only reason why he felt the need to comfort her was because he knew that Naruto would have wanted it. His dobe would not want Sakura to be crying, even if he was unconscious, so Sasuke made her stop for him.

He also knew that Naruto would not appreciate Sasuke "rudely" shoving the girl off of him so he allowed her to cling for a few more moments before gently prying her off himself.

Sakura understood and took the chance to leave the room.

Once Sakura closed the door behind her, Tsunade spoke up.

"We got him stable now. He seems to have used an extra amount of chakra so Kyuubi is not healing him as fast as we would hope. But with this number of injuries, it would take a while to heal even if he was healing at his usual accelerated rate." She explained.

Sasuke nodded his understanding as he returned his gaze to Naruto.

"We are unsure of when he will wake up, though." She warned.

"But he will?" Sasuke asked in a low tone.

"Almost definitely." Tsunade replied quickly.

Sasuke nodded once more. After a few moments he announced, "I'm staying here for the night."

Tsunade smiled as she said, "Figured as much." Then she too walked out of the room.

After she left, Sasuke resettled himself closer to Naruto. His hand never left Naruto's and was still tracing little designs.

After some time passed with the quiet lull of the machines humming, the heart monitor beeping and Naruto's own soft and somewhat shallow breathing, Sasuke stood up and leaned over Naruto to stare directly at the unconscious face.

He gave a soft kiss on Naruto's forehead and whispered, "Please get better soon, Naruto."

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><p><strong>And that was the chapter!<strong>

**I'm excited; tomorrow is my last day of winter term and after our final I am so gone! I'm already making a whole bunch of plans for when I get back home.**

**Anyhoo, thanks for the favorites/alerts and please review & lemme know how you feel about the story.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own no one in the Naruto world.**

**I'm watchin TMNT now :D gawd I love this movie haha, Mikey has always been my favorite. I love how carefree he is and how he is the show's modern teenager. In every version he is my favorite.**

**This is one of my favorite movies, though. I saw it twice in theaters. Once with my family under the guise of 'it's for my little siblings . .'; the second time I dragged my friend to see it with me just because I loved it so much.**

**Tis a secret shame of mine how much I love things from the old Kid's WB like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I don't let people other than my siblings see just how far this love goes haha.**

**Anyways, onward with Forgotten Love chapter 3!**

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><p>"You really need to come back soon, the house has gotten far too clean. I know I always tell you that you make too much of a mess, but the truth is that cleaning up after your laziness has become one of the more enjoyable parts of my daily routine. It relaxes me by giving me a harmless task I don't have to think about and at the same time reinforces our bond to me. Without you at home to clean after, I have been reduced to dusting and reorganizing. Did you know I found that maid outfit I bought for you? I think I still have the scar from when I gave it to you."<p>

Sasuke chuckled when as he remembered the incident. He had been planning a very special kind of night, only to have it interrupted by a trip to Sakura's house for some new bandages because Naruto had certainly not appreciated Sasuke's little 'gift'.

Sasuke gave a small sigh when he had finished his short bout of uncharacteristic chuckles, usually he would only allow himself such a display when he and Naruto were alone at home, but he had been practically living at the hospital for the past three weeks. Ever since the first night, he spent every day at the hospital, only leaving when visiting hours were over.

Naruto had been moved from his original room to another private room on a lower floor because he had been—slowly—recovering and no longer required so many machines to keep him alive.

Sasuke looked contently at the now peaceful expression on his love's face. There may not have been a smile or much of a visible expression, but Sasuke could tell that Naruto was having one of his more restful dreams.

Sasuke started to stroke Naruto's hand which he had been holding with his thumb to show that he was still there as he looked around the hospital room.

He and Naruto were the only ones in there, but there was evidence that the room had been visited frequently with many visitors at a time; there were many chairs stacked against the wall, every available surface was covered with either get-well gifts or cards (all of which had a splash of orange on them), the trash can was filled with little snack wrappers that been snuck in in the hopes that Naruto would wake up during the visit, and the door was open like it always would be for Naruto's desire to always allow guests inside his room.

Naruto received no less than four visitors a day, excluding Sasuke who did not consider himself a mere 'visitor'. During the first week, Naruto had been attached to those machines in room 457 leaving all who visited in a somber mood, barely speaking a word as they tried to convince themselves that what they were seeing was actually true and not some elaborate prank by the blonde.

After Naruto had been moved to a different room and breathing on his own, his visitors were surprised and worried by the expression Naruto had on his face while he slept. He was frowning ever so slightly and people were afraid that that meant that he was in pain of some kind.

Sasuke knew that he knew that particular frown, but was constantly distracted from trying to place it by Sakura, Shizune, Tsunade or any other nurse or doctor doing some sort of test on his blonde to learn of the cause of his unknown pain.

It wasn't until all the tests came back inconclusive did Sasuke realize where he had seen that frown before. As soon as Tsunade had defectively tell the others the results from the tests, Sasuke had abruptly gotten up and walked out of the room despite objections or the people calling after him.

He had returned less than half an hour later with the source of the problems.

He had made his way towards his lover's bed, had sat down and started to stroke Naruto's bangs away from his eyes.

Then Sasuke had pulled out Naruto's old sleeping cap which he had retrieved from his lover's old apartment to the shock of those in the room. Many had assumed Naruto had gotten rid of his childhood hat after the war, or at least since he moved in with Sasuke.

Sasuke had calmly walked past all of the bewildered and slightly annoyed looks for having left in the first place, and headed straight for his usual seat next to his lover.

He then carefully placed the hat atop Naruto's golden head, arranging it so that it covered the majority of Naruto's hair, but allowing the bags to pop out like he knew Naruto was used to.

The effect may not have been instantaneous, but soon after the hat was placed: Naruto's expression calmed from its slight frown to a serene slumber.

From then on, the others openly agreed with Sasuke that he would be Naruto's primary caregiver. Of course, he had already been acting as so, but now Tsunade that Tsunade had made it official, all the nurses and other medical-nin acknowledged this and stood out of his way when it came to taking care of his Naruto.

He took care of changing Naruto's bandages, except for the ones on his throat and torso. He would move Naruto's available limbs so they would not suffer as much when Naruto woke up. He personally made sure Naruto had his favorite sheets rather than the inferior hospital bedding. Sasuke even brought in Naruto's stuffed Kakashi doll to ease his lover's need to smother in his sleep; though that did not stop him from glaring at that damned cloth filled with cotton for getting his lover's cuddles just for being light enough to not jostle Naruto's injuries.

One thing Sasuke absolutely refused to let anyone else to do for his usuratonkachi is giving him his sponge bath.

This, Sasuke was adamant about. He could allow the others to do the other tedious but important things for Naruto like changing his bandages and keeping his usuratonkachi comfortable…but only if needed…

But only he—Sasuke—was allowed to bathe his Naruto.

When one nurse suggested that she would bathe Naruto while Sasuke helped, Sasuke very nearly strangled her. When Tsunade ran in after that 'nurse' screamed for help, Sasuke explained the truth; that that she-devil was trying to steal his lover from him and he was merely making sure that would never happen again.

After that, Tsunade rightfully agreed that Sasuke would be the only one allowed to bathe Naruto.

Sasuke took his job seriously. He bought more of the shampoo he got for Naruto as well as the soaps he had gotten for Naruto. He knew that Naruto would insist on using the ones from home because they were not fully used even though they were almost empty. Sasuke knew that Naruto didn't care about his hygiene as much as Sasuke did, but Sasuke also knew for a fact that his Naruto deserved the best—especially when he was injured.

Sasuke also would not allow anyone else in the room when he gave Naruto his sponge bath; he made sure the room was secure and that the door was sealed before he did so nobody could cast their lustful eyes on his lover's perfect body. Nobody but him, that is.

He did this not only for his own possessive nature, but also because he knew that it was primarily for Naruto. Sasuke knew that Naruto absolutely abhorred it when people saw him injured like this. He was just as sure that Naruto wouldn't be able to stand other people seeing him at his most vulnerable state so exposed.

It was important to Naruto that others view him as strong and indestructible. He hid his weaknesses as a child, and strove to overcome them as an adult.

Sasuke knew his lover inside and out; knew what he would appreciate or resent during his time of need. He knew that when Naruto had to sleep alone, he relied on his old hat to get the deep sleep he desired. He knew that Naruto was a cuddler by nature, so he allowed the abomination of cloth and cotton to appease Naruto's need. He knew that Naruto hated hospital beds, so he tried to make the bed his usuratonkachi was used to sleeping on. He knew that Naruto craved motion and hated staying still for too long, so he helped move the available limbs.

Sasuke also knew that Naruto hated any room outside their home being quiet, so when no one else was around Sasuke would talk to his lover.

Usually, Sasuke would not spend so much talking outside their home, not feeling the need to allow others to know his thoughts. But this was not a 'usual'. This was Naruto, critically injured and has been in a coma ever since his injuries.

Because of the usual nature, Sasuke had made an exception for his aversion to talking out loud for his Naruto.

After a few awkward one-sided 'conversations' consisting of Sasuke describing a few missions he had been on that he had been on during some of Naruto's other missions. Then, he began describing a few mundane things like a couple of books he had found interesting that Naruto had pretended to read for Sasuke's sake a few months back. Soon, Sasuke started to enjoy speaking to his lover; even though it was one sided, it made him feel like he was connecting to Naruto.

"Even though you had told me to throw the maid outfit away, I obviously kept it. I couldn't bring myself to throw it away because I had bought it for you, so how could I?" Sasuke continued talking to Naruto, stroking Naruto's hand within his own.

Sasuke let loose a sigh. It did not matter how connected he felt with the unanimated body of his lover, he had no real way of knowing whether or not his Naruto was aware. It would not deter him from continuing his efforts, but it would have been nice to know that his over knew what Sasuke was doing for him.

Sasuke reached his other hand to caress his lover's whiskered cheek, running his thumb over each birthmark.

Suddenly, something caught Sasuke's eye.

IT WAS NARUTO!

He thought he saw—no, he KNEW he saw—Naruto's eyelids flicker!

Sasuke abruptly stood up; causing the chair he was sitting in to fall backwards, but he didn't care; what piece of cheap furniture can compare to seeing his lover make a form of movement after over a week of being in a coma?

Not that bundle of sticks. Not any piece of furniture could ever compare.

Sasuke leaned in closer to his lover, still caressing those smooth cheeks with his thumb.

"C'mon, usuratonkachi! Show me you're in there. Show me you're fighting this!" he whispered.

There was no response.

Naruto continued to sleep.

Sasuke removed his hand from Naruto's hand to his lover's other cheek so Sasuke was holding his face.

"Dobe, I know you are fighting this, I know you can beat this!" Sasuke whispered a little louder.

Naruto still remained motionless.

Sasuke leaned in so their two foreheads were touching, staring intently at Naruto's motionless, lidded eyes.

"Please. Do it for me. Show me you're in there, Naruto." Sasuke breathed as he continued to stare.

He waited for a moment; taking in every detail Naruto's lidded eyes had to offer.

Sasuke was about to either lean back or try to force a reaction out of his lover through a kiss when his plea was answered.

Naruto flickered his eyes under his eyelids again!

Sasuke inwardly did a lot of things; he inwardly gasped, smiled, even chucked out of happiness.

Outwardly though, Sasuke gave the smallest of grins and ghosted his lips over Naruto's and whispered, "I knew you were in there."

Sasuke then backed up and removed his hands from his lovers face. He quickly grabbed the constructed wood that had fallen over earlier and sat as close to Naruto's bed as he could.

He then spent his time gazing upon his blonde's face. Naruto would sporadically flicker his eyelids; sometimes simply moving his eyes underneath them and other times as if he were blinking.

Sasuke's small grin grew as he replaced his hand back on Naruto's and resumed stroking it with his thumb.

Sasuke heard the door open behind him, but paid it no attention. His focus was entirely on Naruto's beautiful face and relishing in every time Naruto reacted to something.

"Visiting hours end in ten minutes, Sasuke." Tsunade's voice came from behind him, light and calm; just like all the other nights she had sent Sasuke home.

"Not tonight." Sasuke calmly replied, not taking his eyes away from Naruto.

Tsunade paused, the disruption in the usual, polite routine having not been expected, "What?" she asked, unsure of the reason.

"I'm staying here tonight." Sasuke reiterated.

"…What? Why?" Tsunade asked, knowing perfectly well that Naruto was the only reason why Sasuke would directly contradict her.

Sasuke never wavered in his focus and replied, "Look."

Still confused, Tsunade made her way to the opposite side of Naruto's bed. When she got to the bed, she followed Sasuke's gaze to her gaki's face and gasped.

Did he just flicker his eyes?

Tsunade immediately went into doctor mode. She grabbed Naruto's chart and started checking his statistics and writing down the changes on the chart.

Sasuke heard Tsunade bustle around and writing things on the chart, but his eyes were still trained on Naruto's face. The slight twitches were increasing in duration, but gave no indication on when his blonde would awaken.

After a few minutes of shuffling around, Tsunade announced, "He's definitely improving. He should wake up soon, but I have no idea when."

Sasuke nodded, and then restated, "I'm staying here tonight."

He had always known that Naruto would definitely wake up, but he would admit—only to his lover—that he did have concerns as to _when_ he would wake up. But just hearing that Naruto _would_ wake up from someone else besides what Sasuke told himself and other friends reassuring themselves made his heart soar.

Tsunade's eyes shifted from Sasuke to Naruto for a few moments before smiling as she agreed.

"If he wakes up tonight, I want to be the first person you contact." Tsunade said as she turned to leave.

"Hn." Sasuke agreed before she left the room.

Sasuke spent the next hour continuing to observe his lover's face and its semi-movements.

During the hour, Naruto's eyes came close to opening with his eyelids blinking rapidly without opening. But that seemed to wear Naruto out, because after the effort he resumed his motionless state.

After over twenty minutes of Naruto's face remaining serene and restful, Sasuke moved from his post to stretch out his muscles.

When Sasuke had finished stretching, he moved about the room. He cleaned any small mess, like emptying the trash cans. He rearranged Naruto's get-well cards and gifts so they were easier to notice when Naruto would wake up later.

After making the room aesthetically pleasing, Sasuke had moved some furniture—like the extra chairs—so there was more available room because Naruto was bound to get a swarm of guests when he woke up later.

Sasuke later deemed that everything was worthy of being called his lover's room and resumed his post next to Naruto's bed.

He checked Naruto's face and saw that he was sleeping peacefully before checking the clock and saw that it was only 1:31 AM.

Sasuke then decided that he himself should rest; he did not want to mar his reunion with his blonde lover with fatigue! So he treated this rest as if he were on a solo mission and resting alone while still on the alert.

He slipped into a state of rest where he was able to rest his body while still aware of his surroundings. Sasuke treated this as if he had set up numerous traps in the area and allowed himself to truly sleep for half our intervals before becoming alert again.

He rested like this for a couple of hours until he saw the sky gradually getting lighter. He checked the clock and it was around 5:43 AM so he decided that he had slept enough.

Sasuke was glad he had made the decision because not ten minutes had passed before Naruto began to move his eyes under his eyelids again!

Sasuke felt a thrill similar to the one he felt when Naruto had first attempted to open his eyes.

He leaned in closer, his hands grasping the side of Naruto's bed; fisting the orange sheets.

He knew that he should be content with the efforts that Naruto was doing, but Sasuke couldn't help but want more.

He yearned to see those impossibly blue eyes connecting with his own. He craved that smile that lit up the entire room effortlessly. He desired to hear that voice call Sasuke's name. He wanted his Naruto back.

"I know you are trying to wake up, usuratonkachi, but you have to try a little harder. I know it's hard and you're tired, but I need you to wake up!" Sasuke encouraged his lover.

His words had little to no effect on Naruto's efforts which still continued, though not as fast as Sasuke would have hoped.

Sasuke held back a sigh, in case Naruto really could hear him and would misinterpret Sasuke's sigh as disappointment in Naruto's efforts rather than his own expectations. He knew that Naruto was probably trying his best, and reminded himself that waking from a coma is not at all like waking up from a normal dream. Plus, he had to take Naruto's collective injuries into consideration; if Naruto was waking up then that meant that the pain would also be returning to him, or at least the heavy nature of a sedated body.

He should not expect any more from Naruto then what Naruto was currently doing.

Sasuke gave Naruto a small guilty smile and whispered words meant solely for Naruto, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't push you so hard. You always put forth so much effort that you deserve a rest, no matter how long it takes. I am just anxious because I miss you so much. I love you."

He gently took Naruto's smaller hand into his own and pressed it against his lips, closing his eyes in the process.

He opened them so he could make sure that he replaced the hand even more gently than before back onto the bed as to not disturb his sleeping beauty.

Once he had replaced I back on the bed and had held Naruto's hand within his own, Sasuke returned his gaze upon Naruto's face and gasped.

Naruto's eyes were open!

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><p><strong>And that was the chapter.<strong>

**Sorry it took so long to update! I never abandon a story, but some take a reeeally long time for my inner muse to get the ideas and words to flow despite efforts. I tried starting other new stories in an attempt to arouse her, but found that I was paying more attention to developing them than continuing this one so I stopped halfway through.**

**Reviews are the best way to entice my inner muse for any story, though. It motivates her in a way frustration cannot.**

**Anyway, did anyone hear that Michael Bay has now taken it upon himself to destroy more childhood memories? He's producing the new TMNT movie coming out in 2013, but making it Teenage ALIEN Ninja Turtles. What the vanilla? I refuse to watch it if that is really the case.**

**Anyhoo, thank you all who alert/favorite this story! And an extra special thanks to reviewers!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything from the Naruto series.**

**I'm back home now that school is over. I'm no longer a college freshman but will be a sophomore next school year! In the meantime, I got my first job! Late getting a first job, I know haha but the competition around here is tough so I basically only had a chance after I turned 18, that and being very lazy at the whole job process. But whatevs haha! I will soon be a waitress at Ihop. At my old high school, there was a different Ihop nearby, and the 'P' on the side of the building that says 'International House Of Pancakes' had disappeared during my freshman year; so my friends and I referred to that specific Ihop as the International House of ANcakes! I won't be working on that one, but one closer to my house.**

**Anyways, onward with the chapter!**

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><p>Blue eyes had finally revealed themselves to the world once more.<p>

Sasuke felt utter and complete relief when he saw his love's impossibly blue eyes, even if they were looking up at the ceiling rather than himself. He didn't feel any hatred for the simple tiles that dared steal his precious blonde's attention away from Sasuke; he understood that since Naruto was facing the ceiling then it would be logical that his lover would look at the ceiling first. Sasuke simply cursed himself for not thinking about that first and placing something decorative there to hide the plain white tiles he knew Naruto grew bored of rather quickly.

He felt like he had been drowning and was just now taking deep breathes of life when he saw Naruto's eyes open once more. If he weren't an Uchiha, Sasuke would be shouting for joy or grinning himself silly like he knew Naruto would be had the situations be reversed like Sasuke had desperately pleaded for on those lonely nights when he couldn't get his lover's still body out of his head.

Sasuke could spend hours—days—simply staring into those eyes. Those eyes that held so much warmth whenever they recognized him. Those eyes that held a smile of their own when they radiated their happiness. Those eyes that expressed so much emotion in a single glance. Those eyes that captivated all who chanced upon seeing them without their knowledge. Those eyes that Sasuke fell in love with.

But those eyes—those beautiful, _beautiful_ eyes—weren't focused upon Sasuke. They were still scanning the ceiling.

Sasuke directed his attention towards the ceiling as well. What did _those_ drab tiles have that were so interesting? Why did they get to have his lover's attention?

When Sasuke turned back to the blonde in order to correct this, he noticed something.

Naruto was _still_ staring at the ceiling. Supposed 'jealousy' of the white, designless and utterly bland ceiling tiles aside, Sasuke could tell that something was not right…

Normally, Naruto would not be staring at the ceiling. He has told Sakura many times in the past that the hospital should paint each room a different color so the patient would not be subjugated to such tortures as being bored to death in a place that saves lives via nothing but white walls and ceilings to stare at. Instead of staring at the white tiles, Naruto would be scanning the room for his ever present visitors or something else to grab his limited attention.

But now Naruto was still looking up at the ceiling with a small frown on his face, as if he were unwaveringly glaring at the ceiling. He seemed to be thinking.

Sasuke decided to check to see what was wrong. Maybe Naruto assumed that it was late and didn't expect to see anyone? Or maybe he was berating himself for getting injured in the first place. Naruto usually would demand the impossible for himself and continuously train until he felt like he could go through simple A-Rank missions without injuries. Though, at the same time he feels that if he did not get an injury out of a mission then it was considered boring to him. Damn that confusing usuratonkachi.

No matter. If Naruto was lonely and berating himself, then Sasuke would be the good boyfriend that he is and let Naruto know just how wrong he is about both issues.

Sasuke leaned forward a little and gently grasped Naruto's hand to let the blonde know that he was here.

Naruto jumped at the contact, but that only seemed to irritate his injuries. His eyes widened in both fear and pain as he flinched. But flinching only seemed to hurt him more as he hissed in pain as well.

Naruto's eyes began to water during this chain of events. He shook his good arm to try to release himself from Sasuke's hold, trying to bring it up to his throat which was obviously hurting him the most at the moment.

Seeing this reaction, Sasuke assumed that Naruto was suffering from some form of Pose Traumatic Distress or that the drugs pumping through his system courtesy of the hospital—Sakura's worry over his injuries in particular—made him hazy so he was reacting on instinct rather than common sense.

Sasuke knew that Naruto would end up aggravating his injuries if left to his own devises. So he held onto Naruto's good arm with a firmer grip; not allowing Naruto to lift it up to his injured throat.

Naruto began to panic. Since he was being restrained, he naturally began to fight against it and was trying to move the rest of his body as well despite the pain the actions brought.

Sasuke stood up while still holding his Naruto's hand, and used his other hand to cradle his boyfriend's whiskered cheek so Naruto would stop moving his head.

Surprised by the action, Naruto directed his frightened eyes towards Sasuke. His eyes were full of fear and confusion; begging to know exactly what was going on and why his body was in so much pain—not that he'd admit it to anyone but Sasuke.

Sasuke briefly wondered why Naruto was so confused, but quickly wrote it off as Sakura's over pampering with tranquilizers and focused on calming his boyfriend down enough to listen.

Leaning over Naruto, Sasuke was careful to not touch him other than his good arm and cheek like he still was. Sasuke leaned close enough so that his face was hovering a few good inches away from Naruto's own face.

"Shhhh. Shhhh. It's okay. It's alright." Sasuke would normally feel slightly ridiculous coddling another seasoned ninja that it is 'alright'; especially because he is a proud Uchiha. But at the moment, all he was worried about was whether or not Naruto would calm down and worrying about his lover.

Naruto's eyes were darting anywhere and everywhere in his panic and he was still trying to free himself from Sasuke's hold.

In a gentle voice only meant to be heard by Naruto, Sasuke continued, "Look at me. I promise it's safe. You know I won't ever hurt you." With his hand still cupping Naruto's whiskered cheek, Sasuke used his thumb to start stroking his tanned face.

Naruto's eyes shot to meet Sasuke's unwavering gaze. His eyes held so much fear and confusion that it almost hurt Sasuke to not simply cradle Naruto's entire body and rock him until he calmed down completely. For now, he settled for touching his forehead to Naruto's.

"You're currently at the hospital. The mission was a success, though you were severely injured so you can't move now or else you'll aggravate your wounds and you'll be stuck here longer." Sasuke whispered while still keeping eye contact with Naruto, "It's about 6:00 AM and Tsunade will be visiting you soon to check up on you. She'll be happy to see that you are awake."

Naruto's breathing fell into a calmed pace as the fear ebbed away from his eyes. Upon seeing this, Sasuke removed his forehead from Naruto's and slowly sat back down on his chair. Sasuke inwardly smiled as he and Naruto kept eye contact through the entire process.

The internal smile vanished when Sasuke noticed that while almost all of the fear had left Naruto's eyes, the confusion has increased.

"Hey, is anything wrong?" Sasuke asked softly, stroking his thumb across the hand he was still holding.

Naruto did not answer. He only continued to stare at Sasuke with confusion and a small amount of fear in his beautiful eyes. The fear was not from any imminent danger, though. It took a moment, but Sasuke recognized that the fear he saw was the fear he would see in Naruto's eyes when he was afraid to ask someone a question because he was sure that the answer would be painful.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked in a gentle tone.

Naruto looked honestly surprised that Sasuke was asking him if he had a question; as if the two had not been through the motions of Naruto being reluctant to ask a question—from going out for a walk together to when the other would be home from a mission—so many times that it was almost as natural to them as having daily bickering over the smallest of things neither of them really care about.

Sasuke attributed Naruto's reaction to Sakura's love of creating new sedatives and using Naruto as a human guinea pig. To alleviate some of Naruto's confusion, Sasuke allowed a small smile on his face as he told the other, "You know you can ask me anything."

To Sasuke's surprise, the fear in Naruto's eyes did not fade away but rather amplified.

His smile faded as his eyebrows creased slightly to show his worry and confusion over the matter, "You don't know that I'll answer anything you ask me?" he questioned Naruto.

The fear increased in Naruto's ever expressive eyes, along with a growing desperation which Sasuke recognized. It only happened when Sasuke was trying to convince Naruto during the first few months of his probation when the blonde Jounin was assigned to a week-long mission that he would still be here when Naruto returned and that he would never abandon him again; Sasuke swore that he would do everything in his power to never have to see the combination of confusion, fear, and desperation in Naruto's eyes.

Was the mission that bad? Did Naruto feel that he had been set up? Why did his Naruto doubt him?

As Sasuke's face fell, the desperation in Naruto's eyes increased. He tried opening his mouth to speak several times, but each time he flinched in pain. To compensate for not being able to speak, Naruto squeezed Sasuke's hand.

Sasuke internally jumped at the gesture. He refocused on Naruto's eyes and was slightly surprised to see that the fear had been replaced by a deep sadness. The confusion and desperation were still evident, but there was little fear.

Sasuke felt slightly comforted by how he could see his distress made Naruto sad rather than annoyed, but the majority of his attention was focused on how to remove the sadness, fear, and desperation completely.

"…Naruto…" Sasuke whispered looking into those blue eyes he fell in love with long ago, but forgot what he was going to say due to the look of pure confusion in those blue eyes.

Why was Naruto confused? Did his new doubt of Sasuke mean that Sasuke wanting to comfort his lover was confusing to the blonde?

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked, still in a soft voice. He made sure to keep eye contact so he could see his lover's reaction through his ever expressive eyes.

Sasuke was surprised to see that the confusion still grew!

"Who?" Naruto asked. His voice was worse than merely raspy. It sounded broken; as if his throat was being scraped with gravel. Even though the monosyllable question was a barely audible whisper, the melodic voice still cracked.

After mustering the energy to speak, Naruto's body—especially his throat—was racked with pain. He grimaced to try to hide it; careful to not move his mouth and strain his neck tendons anymore. He also tried to raise his left arm which was not currently bandaged to try to alleviate the pain in his neck.

Sasuke froze. 'Who'? Naruto did not know who Naruto was? The confusion in those sparkling, blue eyes was genuine; so it was not due to Sakura's homemade sedatives. Did Naruto really forget who he was?

Sasuke returned his attention back to Naruto, whose eyes had an increased amount of desperation and sadness in them. Sasuke decided that he had to find out the truth.

Re-gripping Naruto's hand, Sasuke ordered in a gentle tone, "One blink for yes. Two blinks for no. Understand?"

There was a pause, then a slow blink to confirm that Naruto understood.

Sasuke leaned forward a little, internally making worried expressions, nervous expressions, and slightly fearful expressions in anticipation for the question he was about to ask. Outwardly, though, his face remained a gently concerned look reserved only for his lover.

"Do you remember your name?" he asked, urgently hoping that Naruto would blink once and tease him later about even entertaining the idea that Naruto would forget his own name.

But Naruto blinked twice immediately, then blinked twice again, repeating the action as an outward gesture to show his increasing fear and desperation at the fact that he could not remember his name.

"Shhhhh." Sasuke soothed as he began stroking Naruto's left hand with his thumb. He used his free hand to reach towards Naruto's face and began rhythmically brushing the blond bangs away from those blue eyes he was communicating with. With each stroke and brush, his frightened lover began to calm down.

All Sasuke wanted to do was to take his blonde into his arms and let him know that everything was going to be okay; that he would make sure that even without Naruto's memories that the usuratonkachi would be loved and spoiled as much as all of those damned preppy fangirls of Sasuke's combined. But a vital piece of information kept Sasuke from whisking the blonde away in a whirl of love. If Naruto did not remember his own name, then he probably had no idea who Sasuke was.

Though he hated to think that the one who had pledged to love Sasuke forever and for eternity had completely forgotten him and everything that made them _them_, Sasuke knew that he had to continue.

"Do you remember who I am?" Sasuke asked in a softer tone.

There was a pause. Not because Naruto was deliberating or thought that he maybe kinda sorta vaguely remembered someone Sasuke-like in his fuzzy, muffled, and sedated mind, but because the blonde recognized the significance of the question. After a moment, Naruto blinked twice. Not as rapidly as when Sasuke asked if Naruto remembered his own name, but quick enough so that there would be no question about the answer nor any cruel time in between blinks that could bring hope that would be only be squashed.

Sasuke was expecting the answer—he _knew_ that a double blink would be the answer—but expecting the answer and the reality of it actually being true were two completely different things. Sasuke felt his expression drop. At that moment, he did not care that he was an Uchiha and that Uchihas do not show shamefully depressed emotions. He couldn't bring himself to care, because Naruto did not remember him. If his precious lover—his _everything_, his entire world!—did not remember him, then what was the point in keeping the façade of being the perfect Uchiha? Naruto did not even remember what an Uchiha was!

Suddenly, there was a pressure on his hand. Looking down, he saw that Naruto was squeezing it with a slightly trembling hand. Thinking that something outside the window or in the room had frightened his lover, Sasuke scanned the room. He felt another squeeze and turned to face Naruto.

After he had met Naruto's gaze, he noticed right away that curiosity was the dominating emotion in his lover's eyes.

That, more than anything, reminded Sasuke that while Naruto may not remember him, that did not mean that either of them had died. They were still here. Naruto was still here. Sasuke loved Naruto not just because of the happy memories they shared but because Naruto was _Naruto_.

And Sasuke was still Sasuke. So the raven mentally reprimanded himself for showing such blatant weakness to the other. Not because he was ashamed of showing Naruto his weaknesses—he could show an unconscious Naruto his emotional side so there was no question that he felt comfortable around Naruto in almost any form; except the usuratonkachi's _sexy jutsu_—but because he needed to be strong for the other. Naruto was obviously feeling vulnerable at the moment and it was up to Sasuke to protect him.

Letting a small smile form on his softening expression, Sasuke told the other in a gentle tone, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha, and your name is Naruto Uzumaki."

Curiosity was still in Naruto's eyes, but happiness and nervousness replaced fear and desperation as Sasuke began giving Naruto the information he craved.

"We both live in the Hidden Leaf Village, or Konohagure. We are also both ninja. As I said before, your last mission was a success, but you got injured while you were protecting the rest of your team from rogue ninja and you were taken back here to the hospital by your team who are completely injury free."

Naruto had a tiny smile on his face as he was given more information. He wanted to give a bigger smile, but he was afraid of straining his neck tendons if he over did it.

Sasuke remembered that he had told Tsunade that he would let her know as soon as Naruto woke up. He turned around in his chair and grabbed a notepad on a nearby table that Naruto's frequent guests had left in the room and had filled several pages with get-well notes and various personal messages.

He tore out a free page and began writing a message to Tsunade.

'_Naruto woke up at 5:34 AM. It hurts him to speak and to move around. He has also lost his memory._

_-S'_

After he had written his note, Sasuke stood up. He was about to walk over to the window when he remembered that Naruto had no idea what he was doing. True enough, when he looked back down at Naruto, he saw fear in his eyes. The fear was a familiar fear that Sasuke cursed himself for bringing up; the fear of abandonment.

Reaching out, Sasuke grasped Naruto's hand and said in a gentle tone, "I told your doctor, Tsunade, that I would let her know when you woke up. I'm just going to the window so I can deliver the message and then I will be back."

Confusion dominated over the fear. Sasuke could practically hear his dobe asked how going to a window would help deliver a message and ask if Sasuke was planning on using smoke signals or something to that degree.

With a squeeze, Sasuke let go of Naruto's hand and crossed the room to get to the window. Once he opened the glass, Sasuke bit his thumb to draw blood. Then he made the necessary hand seals to summon a hawk. Once he had done so, he tied the message to its leg and told it to deliver the message to the Hokage.

The hawk jerked its head in a nodding motion and flew out of the window and out of sight.

Once the hawk was gone, Sasuke turned around to return to his post next to the blonde's bed.

He resisted a smirk when he saw the look of pure astonishment on the usuratonkachi's face. Sasuke guessed that in Naruto's currently confused mind, it seemed unreal that Sasuke could magically summon a bird out of thin air.

After he sat down, Sasuke explained, "That was a summoning jutsu. Many ninja can do it, including yourself."

Sasuke actually did smirk when a look of blank confusion on Naruto's face, that was quickly followed by contained—forcibly because of his injuries—excitement. He could tell that the blonde wanted to know more.

"You can summon frogs. Big frogs. And some very powerful frogs." Sasuke supplied.

Naruto looked very happy to be learning something about himself, but at the same time exhausted. Seeing Naruto tearing up as he fought valiantly against a yawn reminded Sasuke that Naruto was still having a steady stream of sedatives flowing through the severely injured blonde's system and how much effort he must be putting up to stay awake.

Sasuke smirked as he said, "You should go to sleep. Rest is the best thing you can do to heal your injuries so you can get out of here."

At Sasuke words, Naruto's eyes sharpened with the same nervousness and fear as when Sasuke had stood up to go to the window. It greatly pained Sasuke to see it.

"I'll still be here when you wake up, Naruto." Sasuke promised, the sincerity evident through the conviction in which he spoke.

Naruto smiled at Sasuke—not the megawatt blinding smile Sasuke craved to see, but a genuine one nonetheless—before closing his eyes. He fell asleep immediately; Sasuke always envied Naruto's unique talent to fall asleep on command.

Giving a small smile himself, Sasuke stood up so he could lean over the injured blonde without disturbing any of his injuries and gave him a lingering kiss on the forehead.

Naruto may not remember anything, but that in no way meant that Sasuke would leave him alone. Sasuke decided then and there that he would be Naruto's guardian during his time of need. He would not push any of the blonde's boundaries and would try his very best to ensure that Naruto would be surrounded purely by a content atmosphere.

He would not push Naruto into regaining his memories, nor would Sasuke tell many things about him to Naruto. He did not want Naruto to feel pressured to be someone he could not remember, and he'd make sure that everyone else who came into contact with his blonde would do the same. Naruto would be free to decide who he was and free to regain his memories at his own pace.

Sasuke stared at his sleeping blonde. Of course he was disappointed that in addition to all of his injuries that Naruto had also lost his memories, but that did not stop him from simply being grateful that Naruto was awake at last.

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><p><strong>And that was the chapter.<strong>

**Sorry it took so long. I was going through a small mini depression. So I go for training at the Ihop that I was hired at, and go through interviews and a full day of training and everything. I met many of the employees and a few of the regular customers. Everyone was really nice and all of the employees promised to help me while I worked there, from the beginning processes to trading shifts and everything. The girl I was shadowing as we waited tables even offered me rides home when she discovered that I would be walking to and from work; all ten minutes of the short commute. But on the second day I was let go. Apparently I was hired for my flexibility on working whatever shifts needed as I live literally ten minutes away and don't have any summer classes only to discover the day after I start working that they over-hired and I am not needed anymore.**

**Sooooo that made me super bummed. Of course my little sister graduated middle school so I had to hide my sadness as extended family came down for the graduation. So instead of feeling all depressed while many of my old insecurities came up in the immediate so I could get over it faster, I had to hide it with radiant smiles since I am the perky one in the family and must smile since it is a happy time.**

**Haha so that is why it took so long to update and shit.**

**Anyhoo, thank you to those who reviewed! I lurvs you very much since ya'll make me smile in an unrepressable way n.n**

**Shame to freeloaders who simply alert. Reviews make updates go faster, you know. It's kinda an established fact.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto**

**It is my goal to one day be able to be in a position of power where lesser people will attempt to bribe me. Then, I will ask whether or not they know that bribery is wrong and the scoundrel tells me that it is simply a gift. . .with an assumed rewards of course. I will then accept the gift and totally ignore their added request. . .because bribery in the business world is wrong. My ideal position in power would be second in command of whatever. Because I love being in charge and bossing people around, but hate making decisions.**

**Anyways, onwards with the chapter!**

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><p>Waiting for Tsunade to arrive was frustrating. The arrival itself presented a certain dilemma. Sasuke wanted her to arrive soon so that she could properly assess the extent of Naruto's injuries and the reason for Naruto losing his memories as well as if it was a temporary or permanent ailment. On the other hand, when she came, Naruto would have to be woken up and Sasuke did not want to do that just yet.<p>

Other than that, waiting for Tsunade was more peaceful than waiting for Naruto to awaken.

Before, the wait had been filled with anxiety; worrying when Naruto would wake up and in what condition. This time, Sasuke knew that Naruto was alright and was watching his blonde sleep peacefully.

He had yet to let go of Naruto's un-bandaged hand, and did not plan to let go anytime soon.

Sasuke was smiling; the happiest he had been ever since Naruto had left for his mission. His Naruto was finally awake, and he was healing.

While he was not positive, Sasuke was sure that now that Naruto was awake then Kyuubi must have awoken as well or something so the demon would start accelerating Naruto's healing as usual. He could, of course, go straight to the source with his Sharingan, but he did not want to resort to that since Naruto did not remember that he was the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki and a trip inside his own mind to see the incarnate of evil would not only confuse him to no end but also terrify him and make Naruto question himself as well as Sasuke for making him go through that terror.

So for now, Sasuke would have to rely on whatever Tsunade reported to him about Naruto's hopefully increasing health. That is, whenever she got there.

To pass the time, Sasuke busied himself with straightening the sheets and pillows that his blonde had ruffled when he was awake. It took more time than such a tedious task normally would because all during that time Sasuke had never let go of Naruto's right hand. But Sasuke did not mind the extra time the task took in the least. In fact, he was grateful for it as it kept his mind off of wondering if the memory loss was permanent.

Finally, around 7:00AM, the door opened.

Tsunade walked in, rather quietly Sasuke noticed. She probably figured out that Naruto was resting as there were no loud noises coming from the room like there would normally be had the blonde been awake. That or she did not want to scare the patient suffering from memory loss in addition to his many physical injuries.

"How is he?" the Hokage asked as she walked passed Sasuke to stand by the other side of the bed.

"His throat is still hurting him. He can barely speak without hurting himself and moving any of the tendons or muscles near the wound causes him pain." Sasuke mechanically answered, both were using serious tones as they were speaking about the person they both considered family's injuries, "And he cannot remember anything."

"Nothing?" Tsunade repeated. Her voice was quiet and professional; those of a medical-nin. But her eyes were worried and scared; those of a person concerned for their loved one.

Sasuke shook his head, "He did not recognize his own name or either of ours."

Tsunade's eyes swelled with pity as she recognized just how painful it must have been for Sasuke to have his most important person not recognize him.

Giving a nod of understanding, Tsunade began checking Naruto's injuries, starting from the leg up. Green healing chakra glowed around the blonde Hokage's hand as she assessed the damage and recovery of Naruto's external and internal injuries.

Looking up to meet black eyes that had been following her every movement, Tsunade explained, "His left arm and leg are still broken and healing at a below average rate for Naruto. But," she held up a manicured finger, "the internal injuries from the slash to his stomach are healing at Naruto's usual rate. His throat, though, has yet to do any significant form of recovery. But hopefully after Kyuubi is finished with his stomach, it will heal his throat next."

Sasuke nodded deeply to show his understanding of what she just told him as well as thanking her for telling him. He appreciated that she did not try to sugar coat his lover's injuries but also told him her professional opinion about Kyuubi's involvement with Naruto's recovery.

Tsunade's expression softened and he knew that she understood his silent thanks.

Then her expression hardened again as she poured her chakra to her hand once more and started to assess the injuries in Naruto's head.

Sasuke unconsciously held his breath. Screw Uchiha dignity and pride! He was about to be told his lover's mental condition!

Tsunade was concentrating hard; her eyes were closed and there was a little bead of sweat beginning to form on her brow. Every so often, she would move her hand to a different portion of Naruto's head and her eyebrows would furrow in concentration.

Sasuke had begun breathing again, but it was bated. His entire body was tense as he waited, his own brow forming the beginnings of perspiration—Uchihas don't sweat—in anticipation. His stomach was also churning with worry. What if she said that the memory loss was permanent? What if she said that the memory loss would be temporary because Naruto had actually sustained a larger injury and would die soon?

Finally, after what seemed like days upon fucking years, Tsunade's hand stopped glowing and she had opened her eyes.

Sasuke sucked in his breath as her eyes found his, waiting to hear the worst.

"As far as I can tell," she began, her body language giving no indication if it was good news or bad news, "the memory loss is not permanent."

Sasuke inwardly jumped for joy, singing praises to Kami and thanking Tsunade for her prestigious skill. Outwardly, he exhaled the breath he had been holding in relief.

"However," Tsunade said and Sasuke's eyes snapped open, "I cannot determine when he will regain his memories. He took a heavy blow to the head and things like this could take months, if not years."

While Sasuke had told himself such facts after learning of his lover's mental ailment while waiting for the Hokage to join them, hearing them being said by Naruto's doctor still came as a blow. Outside, he was the epitome of composed, though inwardly he was a mess.

He had little idea how to handle the situation. Naruto had always been Naruto! Naruto had always cherished his memories with his loved ones and now he could not even recognize Sasuke! Something like this would crush the Naruto Sasuke knew, but this Naruto without memories was not the Naruto he knew because this Naruto had no idea who that was.

"What happened after Naruto woke up?" Tsunade asked, using a business tone so Sasuke knew she wanted full details.

"After he woke up he stared at the ceiling for a while. Then I touched his right hand and he was startled, jarring his injuries while he tried to move against the casts' restraints. His throat hurt him especially. I then restrained his movements and explained to him that he was in the hospital for protecting his team and assured him that they were safe.

"But he still looked so confused and in pain, so I talked to him." Hokage or not, Sasuke was _not_ going to divulge the contents of his private conversation with his lover, "But every time I said his name, he grew more confused until he asked 'who?', which hurt his throat more so than before. I then asked him if he knew his name to which he blinked twice for no.

"So I told him his name as well as a few base facts such as who I am and that we are ninja of the Hidden Leaf Village and that he was injured for protecting his team. And that he can summon frogs." Sasuke summed up his explanation to Tsunade, intentionally leaving out how he had almost broken down after learning that Naruto did not remember anything about who Sasuke was or who _they_ were as a couple.

Tsunade nodded as she processed what she had just been told. Her hand was rhythmically stroking Naruto's bangs out of his face as they stubbornly fell back in place after each time her manicured hands left them.

The two stared at Naruto's sleeping face for a long while, both preoccupied with their own thoughts and neither inclined to start a meaningless conversation.

After a long while of rhythmically stroking blond hair, Tsunade said, "When he wakes up soon, do not tell him much more personal facts."

Inwardly surprised, Sasuke shifted his gaze towards the Hokage who was still focused upon the sleeping blonde.

"You can tell him base facts like his age and who his friends are, things that would be on his official file or easily accessible, but nothing personal like his favorite food and his opinions about any subject."

"Why?" Sasuke asked, careful to not sound demanding or hysteric. Did that mean he would have to lie about their relationship? Did she not know just how precious Naruto considered his bonds and memories? Why would Tsunade demand such a thing?

"Because," Tsunade answered in a patient but authoritative tone, "when a person loses their memory after sustaining an injury to the head like Naruto has that means a portion of their brain has been damaged and is trying to repair itself. Too much information could put a strain on that area while it is still damaged and can end up causing more damage than good.

"And because," Tsunade lowered her voice as well as her head so that her bangs were covering her face, "Naruto has already had to suffer needlessly so much already. I do not want many painful memories to accidentally pop up before he can handle them. And I do not want him to feel pressured to be someone he cannot remember."

The last part, more than anything, convinced Sasuke that he should not push Naruto into remembering those lost memories. He himself had already caused the love of his life so much pain already that at times—especially during those times he saw true fear of abandonment in those blue eyes—he had wished that he could erase them from the past. And now, in an unfavorable way, it had been erased; at least for Naruto. And that was not even the tip of the iceberg of agony Naruto had to endure all his life at the hands of the ones he had sworn to protect.

Nodding his understanding, Sasuke asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Until the injuries to his stomach can recover, he will be confined to his bed. Then he can move around in a wheelchair, but not until he can sit up straight for prolonged periods without any hint of pain." Tsunade answered right away, sending a little glare towards Sasuke who also knew how Naruto would trick the nurses and other visitors into helping him move out of the bed before he was allowed to.

Sasuke nodded again, silently promising to keep a strict vigil over his lover's recovery.

"And I'll let the nurses and hospital staff know no more than three visitors at a time. We don't want to overwhelm him." The last part was said in a small voice, talking to herself, but Sasuke nodded anyway.

The two waited for Naruto to wake up in silence. They both wanted Naruto to understand who Tsunade was at least as his doctor if not someone as close as family; and neither wanted to leave his side, even for a moment. It was not the same as when Naruto first came into the hospital where it felt like Naruto would die if either of them was not at his side, but more towards Naruto waking up and them missing it.

Finally, Naruto began squinting his eyes against the light coming in through the window.

The Hokage and Uchiha shared a glance, silently communicating that Sasuke would speak first and introduce Tsunade as to not confuse or scare their precious blonde.

Blue eyes lethargically revealed themselves to the world once more, and again the first thing Naruto did was stare at the ceiling tiles. Those boring bastards.

"Naruto?" Sasuke asked gently, not caring that Tsunade was in room.

Naruto's eyes wearily followed Sasuke's voice until black eyes met blue.

Those blue eyes still held confusion, but they also held an immense amount of happiness that Sasuke was proud to know was because he had kept his promise of being there when Naruto woke up.

"Do you feel any better?" Sasuke asked, still using his gentle and caring tone reserved only for his Naruto.

Naruto tried to open his mouth, but Sasuke shushed him, "Your throat is still healing. One blink for yes and two blinks for no, remember?"

It took a little while for Sasuke's words to process, but eventually Naruto blinked once.

"Good," Sasuke gave Naruto a tender smile, "now do you feel any better physically?"

Naruto blinked his eyes once.

"Do you remember what I told you yesterday?" Sasuke asked in a kind voice, letting the other know that it was alright if he did not.

Luckily, Naruto blinked once and seemed proud of himself for his achievement. Seeing this, Sasuke's smile grew a little.

"Do you remember anything else?" Sasuke asked, squeezing Naruto's right hand.

The happiness replaced with disappointment, Naruto blinked his eyes twice.

"That's alright, that is perfectly normal. You sustained a large amount of injuries so you do not have to feel bad, okay? These things take time." Sasuke explained, leaning closer to Naruto while staring straight into those blue eyes he loved so much and caressing his thumb over Naruto's hand that he still had clasped within his own.

Azure eyes still holding disappointment blinked twice at him to show that Naruto understood.

Sitting back in his chair, though still holding Naruto's hand, Sasuke said, "Do you remember how I sent a message to your doctor, Tsunade?"

Excitement at the memory of Sasuke summoning a hawk glowed brightly as Naruto blinked once to show that yes, he remembered.

"Well, she is here now. Is that all right with you?" Sasuke asked, noticing Tsunade sit up straighter in her chair in his peripheral vision.

Naruto slowly blinked once with trepidation clear in his eyes.

Sasuke squeeze his hand and with obvious movements, turned his attention towards the Hokage sitting across from him, giving her a nod.

Following Sasuke's gaze, Naruto turned his eyes to look in the same direction as Sasuke was.

When his eyes found Tsunade, Naruto immediately shifted his eyes between the two people sitting by his bed.

Sasuke understood what Naruto was doing. Naruto was silently asking Sasuke if the woman he saw was this 'Tsunade' person Sasuke had told him about.

"Yes, that is Tsunade." Sasuke answered aloud instead of nodding for the Hokage's benefit as she looked concerned and a bit saddened by Naruto's actions. Apparently, she had thought that Naruto was afraid of her.

Getting the message, as soon as Naruto's eyes looked in her direction once more, she introduced herself, "Hello, Naruto. I am Tsunade, your doctor and Hokage of Konoha."

"The leader of our village." Sasuke supplied, knowing that Naruto was confused about the terminology.

"Yes, the leader of the village. You and I met when you were twelve and we are very close. But don't let that make you think that you can get away with anything you want, you still have to follow the rules like everybody else, got it?" Tsunade warned, though love and warmth were evident in her voice and body language.

Sasuke understood that she introduced herself in such a way as an example for Sasuke as to what sort of personal information was allowed. Tsunade had established that she and Naruto shared a bond to let him know that he could trust her and that in turn she cared about him, but she did not divulge into too many details about their past or how they would normally interact so Naruto would not be needlessly wondering what kind of person he should be acting like.

Naruto blinked once to show that he understood Tsunade's warning, his eyes revealing how happy he was to learn more about the confusion he had woken up into.

He turned to Sasuke with a happy anticipation glowing in his eyes, silently asking Sasuke how long ago they met.

". . .You and I met when we were children. We were in the same class as each other and eventually we became teammates and best friends." Sasuke answered after a pause.

Tsunade's eyes darted to him after he gave his explanation, obviously wondering why he had left out the most important part of their relationship, but Sasuke did not meet her gaze.

"As your doctor, I want you to get plenty of rest, you got that, brat?" Tsunade ordered, as she stood up, ready to leave now that she had established Naruto's condition and had properly introduced herself.

Naruto blinked once, but his eyes filled with disappointment when he saw her stand up, though there was a significant lesser amount of fear than when Sasuke had gotten up to walk to the window the last time Naruto was awake.

"Don't worry," Sasuke assured as Naruto's eyes snapped back to him, "she'll be back to check on you later. But for now, she has to go to work as our Hokage."

"That's right." Tsunade agreed, giving Naruto a warm smile, "I'll be back later, so be a good patient and stay in bed."

Naruto gave her a small smile and blinked once.

"Uchiha, you should get Naruto something to drink." The Hokage ordered for the benefit of Naruto, but really ordering Sasuke to join her in the hallway so they could talk in privacy.

Sasuke nodded and whispered, "I'll be right back, I promise." Then he stood up and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

He walked passed Tsunade to the water cooler at the end of the hall to get Naruto a cup of cold water.

"When I said not too many personal details, I did not mean that you could not tell Naruto about your relationship." Tsunade's tone was gentle as she walked up behind him.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted as he filled the cup.

"It is alright to tell him." Tsunade told him kindly, thinking that he was merely following her orders thoroughly like he did on missions.

"No." Sasuke said, his back still to her.

"What?" she sounded confused.

"I won't tell him. And neither will you." He said, turning to face her.

"Why not?" she asked, taken aback by his choice.

"Because it would only bring him pain." Sasuke revealed in a sullen tone.

"No it wouldn't." Tsunade rejected in a motherly tone, showing how she had accepted him as Naruto's boyfriend, especially seeing how kind and gentle Sasuke was to Naruto just now in the other room.

"Yes, it would. Think about it. If I told him that we are lovers, then he would eventually ask questions about our relationship like how we got together or how we fell in love. It would only bring him pain to tell him how many times I had hurt him in the past. Hell, I almost _killed_ him when I discovered that I love him! And saying that I asked him out right after the council meeting when I learned I did not get the death penalty for abandoning the village? I can't—I can't put him through that. Not again."

"Sasuke—" Tsunade started, about to comfort him or say some bull that Naruto would not care or suggest that he skim over those parts of their relationship, but Sasuke would have none of that.

"I'll still be there every step of the way of Naruto's recovery and help in every way I can, but I will not cause him any more pain than I already have." Sasuke declared as he walked passed Tsunade with Naruto's drink in hand. He walked briskly to his love's room, intent on keeping his promise to always be there for him and not letting Tsunade say another word to him on the subject.

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><p><strong>And that was the chapter!<strong>

**Ugh, I reeeeeally hate writing the beginnings of chapters. I am at a complete loss and blank for nearly every one of them! I know what I want in the chapter, and the ideas pile up and are amazing in my head (and hopefully are amazing written)! But there's an imaginary doorway to being written on the page and the beginning part almost always has me stumped so the ideas are just waiting for the beginning piece to come and open the door. To me, the beginning is a transition from last chapter's ending to the plot points of the new chapter, and I am bad at transitions! I get the plot ideas from my almighty and powerful muse, who provides me with the entire scene in my head, but it is up to me and my brain to connect these scenes and out combined effort pale in comparison to what she can provide me with. Sigh. The plot points, middle, and endings I got without a doubt, it is just those frustrating beginnings and transitions that are so hard! Grrrrrr.**

**But anyhoo! Thank you soooo much to those who fave/alert! And a supermegaawesomefoxyhot thank you to those who review! You guys are the definition of awesome and it flows in excess from your sheer awesomnicity. The freeloaders who merely fave/follow are extremely jelly and wish that they can be as awesome as you.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**It's Thanksgiving break! In elementary school and even in high school, the majority of people looked forward to such a break because of sleeping in possibilities and lack of work. College is different however. Yes, the lack of work is appealing, and some of us may very much miss our family. But in college, the main thing looked forward to in Thanksgiving Break is REAL FOOD! Ah, I cannot **_**wait**_** until I can make REAL FOOD in my own kitchen again! And not have to worry about it being over-cooked or under-cooked! Oh, and teasing my friends that they stole my land as I am half Native-American; Northern Cheyenne. But mostly the REAL FOOD…I'm hungry now…**

**Anyhoo, sorry for the wait! Onwards with the chapter!**

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><p>Sasuke was still getting used to Naruto without his memories.<p>

For one thing, due to his injuries to his neck, Naruto could not speak. Oh he attempted to, every so often, but it would always cause him pain, and make him hack up a storm, which caused him even _more_ pain.

Naruto was also confined to bed-rest, which he did not seem to appreciate. The hyperactive blonde could never stay still in the past, and it seemed that his body remembered its great dislike for being in the same position for an extended period of time, so Naruto would constantly attempt to move, only to be hit by either a wave of pain or by Tsunade's reprimanding light hit.

But the thing that Sasuke really couldn't get used to was how Naruto would act as he used to before he lost his memories.

It wasn't as if Naruto suddenly started to demand for more colorful walls like he always did when he landed himself in the hospital, or tried to manipulate Sasuke into helping him get out early through coy suggestions. But there were little things that had Sasuke constantly having to remind himself that Naruto did in fact lose his memories.

For one thing, Naruto did seem to know that he greatly disliked staying in the hospital. Even though he still could not speak, Sasuke would catch him gazing out of the window, almost longingly. Naruto would also constantly fidget.

Something else that Naruto seemingly remembered was his appetite. However, since his trachea had been damaged to such a large extent, he could not swallow anything without pain. So he was hooked up to an IV, which he hated. The IV was attached to his one good arm and he was forever glaring at it, as if he could magically wish it away.

There were differences between Naruto's behavior now than when he still had his memories, though. Like before, he made it no secret how much he despised staying in the hospital. But now, Naruto hid it, thinking that there would be dire consequences if he let others know that he wanted to leave; if he was caught in the middle of gazing outside or fidgeting, then Naruto would try his best to pretend that he was not doing either of those things.

The main difference, Sasuke found, was that Naruto was a lot more subdued without his memories than when he had his memories.

When he had his memories, there was a time when he had injured his throat almost as badly as his throat was injured now.

Back then, he had understood—after three people had told him, given examples, and finally demonstrated with puppets—how his throat would heal faster if he did not try to speak. So instead of speaking, he mimed—badly—what he wanted. Though only Sasuke could truly understand what he was trying to communicate, Naruto was very adamant about wanting more than six people in the room.

It was as if he was trying to forcibly remind himself that he had friends that cared for him now as opposed to when he was a child…

But now, Naruto simply accepted that he should not attempt to speak. Sasuke was sure that Naruto did not completely understand why other than when he did it caused him pain, but that Naruto agreed to this truth because Tsunade had told him so.

It has also been a full day and a half since Naruto had woken up and he was showing no signs of needing or wanting any other company besides from Sasuke. Of course, whenever Tsunade visited, Naruto's eyes brightened, but more from the knowledge of being able to recognize and remember who she was rather than for company.

Naruto was also not as prone to fill up the silence as he would be if he had his memories. In fact, he was perfectly content with simply enjoying Sasuke's company and/or listening to Sasuke whenever _he_ felt like things were too quiet.

Sasuke was careful, though, to never reveal much about Naruto's personal life, and only spoke of before Sasuke had left so there was no chance in Naruto wondering why there was a five-year gap in Sasuke's knowledge of Naruto's life. And _especially_ so there was no chance of Naruto learning about how close he and Sasuke _really_ were.

The Uchiha mostly told Naruto about the inner workings of the village. Sasuke also spoke of their earlier missions and their classmates. When he did, though, he spoke as if he were reading the mission report and only told the sequence of events.

Not that Naruto minded; he was always happy to listen to Sasuke tell stories.

Stories—because that was all they were to Naruto.

Other than telling stories, Sasuke paid close attention to the instructions that Tsunade had left him as he would remain Naruto's primary caregiver during his stay at the hospital and until he regained his memory.

Not that his responsibilities had changed much than from before in Sasuke's opinion; just now Naruto was medically required to be taken care of rather than needing to be taken care of to prevent his natural idiocy.

Rather than simply keeping Naruto from getting bored, Sasuke's tasks were twofold; though admittedly one was mostly self-enforced.

The first of Sasuke's tasks was to help assist Naruto's needs as he recovered from his injuries…and the second was to monitor Naruto's recovery from his memory loss and hopefully keep the many, many bad memories away for as long as possible.

Sasuke was wondering how to continue doing so after Naruto re-met everyone as Tsunade had told them that Naruto's other friends were allowed to visit him today as apparently they had been bothering her about visiting him ever since Naruto was admitted into the hospital.

Unfortunately for Sasuke, when Tsunade had told Naruto this earlier in the morning and had suggested that everyone saw him before the hospital's visiting hours were over, and Naruto had blinked once for yes.

Tsunade had smiled and told him that she would make sure to spread the word and had left the room shortly thereafter, assuming that Naruto was excited and had wanted as many people as possible to come; like he would if he had his memories.

But Sasuke knew the truth; Naruto was more trepid than excited at the prospect of seeing everyone who would come to visit him. All it took was one frantic glace in Sasuke's direction for the Uchiha to know what was going through the blonde's mind: '_What if I don't remember them?_'

Sasuke knew that through Sasuke's stories, Naruto knew that he had close friends. But Sasuke also knew that Naruto was scared that these great friends of his would be offended that he did not remember who they were.

While Naruto worried over that and was most likely reviewing names in his head, Sasuke was worrying about a different matter entirely.

No doubt the majority—if not all—of Naruto's friends would both want to tell Naruto more stories about their past and annoyingly demand to know why Sasuke won't tell Naruto their relationship status.

And Sasuke was in no mood to have his decisions psychoanalyzed by such an annoying group of people; especially since he knew that this was for the best. _He_ was the one who knew Naruto best and he knew just how much Naruto's memories of his past had haunted him.

Keeping them from Naruto was the best thing.

This thought was reinforced as he observed Naruto waking up from a nap.

Sasuke allowed a small smile to form across his face as he watched Naruto stretch his uninjured arm, only to realize that it had the IV attached to it. Naruto then proceeded to pout at his immobility and glare at the IV.

With memories or without, Sasuke would always think that Naruto was the cutest.

Though he would never admit that out loud or else he would be in danger of being treated at the hospital himself.

"Good evening, Naruto." Sasuke greeted. Naruto turned his attention to Sasuke and smiled, happy to see someone he recognized.

Naruto looked as if he was going to try to turn his head to see Sasuke better and to greet him verbally, but Sasuke stop him.

"Your throat isn't completely healed just yet, so don't make me tell Tsunade that you were trying to get out of here early." Sasuke lightly chastised.

Naruto tried to hold a glare back.

Sasuke smirked and said, "I know that sitting there doing nothing is boring, but you're injured and aggravating your injuries won't help get you out of here any faster."

Naruto averted his eyes and gave a somewhat frustrated pout.

Sasuke's smirk was still in place, but it fell a little. This was something else that Sasuke had noticed: unlike before, now Naruto did not express his feelings quite as eccentrically anymore.

Maybe it was because Naruto felt no need to now, because part of the reason that Naruto was so expressive was because it became a defense mechanism as a child, and without his memories there was no reason for him to overreact; or just react in Naruto terms.

It was little things like these that constantly reminded Sasuke that this Naruto was not _his_ Naruto…even though he was still Naruto.

"Tsunade has spread the word that you are able to have visitors again. She even said that she'll look passed the usual visitor-limit if you are up to it." Sasuke told Naruto.

Naruto looked up to Sasuke with an expression akin to shock. Those blue eyes revealed how truly frightened Naruto was about seeing so many strangers at once. It was easy for Sasuke to see that it was the large number of strangers that frightened Naruto rather than the not knowing them.

Sasuke _almost_ placed his hand on Naruto's good hand to reassure him that there was nothing to be afraid of…but he had to once again remind himself that Naruto did not have his memories. Naruto may have always been a physically affectionate person and had always appreciated physical contact over other forms of comfort after receiving mostly physical forms of abuse as a child, but this Naruto did not remember that nor did he remember who Sasuke was to him.

The Uchiha held himself back because he knew that Naruto's other friends—especially other male friends—would not be touching him as familiarly or intimately as Sasuke normally does; partially in fear of what might happen if their hands linger on Naruto's shoulder even a second too long. He did not want Naruto wonder why Sasuke acted differently than his other friends in case it made Naruto think there was something more to their friendship.

Instead, Sasuke merely verbally assured the other, "I'll tell her that she shouldn't send in more than four at a time."

Naruto's expression morphed into a smile. He was about to open his mouth to try to say something, but Sasuke cut him off before he could injure himself.

"What did I tell you before? Don't aggravate your injuries or else you'll stay in here longer and we can't go home." Sasuke scolded, much like he had before whenever Naruto landed himself in the hospital.

Naruto gave him a somewhat confused and excited expression at the word 'home', and Sasuke mentally kicked admonished himself.

He hadn't told Naruto about their living condition…and he had done nothing to separate their things into different rooms. He had dutifully avoided the subject…

But Naruto was giving him an eager and questioning look, clearly excited to hear about this mystery 'home'.

Setting his face to a calm expression, Sasuke said, "You and I live together as…roommates. We are both on missions so often that we decided that things would be more convenient to get one place rather than stay in two different places that we rarely get to stay in for extended periods."

Sasuke was worried that Naruto would question further, like why two supposedly straight men would choose to buy a house together, but Naruto simply smiled, accepting the answer and waiting for a description of 'home'.

Knowing that describing their home would most likely lead into the subject of their relationship, Sasuke chose to avoid it once more.

"I'm going to go tell Tsunade about the restriction of visitors or else she'll just tell everyone to come over at once." Sasuke announced as he stood up.

He quickly left the room, but not before calling over his shoulder that this wouldn't take long and that he'd be back soon.

If Sasuke was being honest with himself, he would admit that he could have simply sent a hawk to deliver the message to Tsunade like he did when Naruto first woke up.

But he needed a break…every time he looked into those blue eyes he loved so much, he would unconsciously search for the spark of love that Naruto always had in his eyes ever since the two confessed to each other. And it broke his heart a little every time he couldn't find it.

He walked briskly through the streets of Konoha, almost to the point where he could have been accused of jogging or running, to get to the Hokage's office.

He scaled the walls of the building so he didn't have to deal with annoying people. He wasn't in the mood.

Besides, from what Sakura had told him, Naruto had taken after Jiraiya and would frequently decide that the door was not a flashy enough entrance for someone like him; so Tsunade should be used to people entering through her windows.

When he reached the window, Sasuke tapped on it lightly to announce his arrival.

Looking behind her, Tsunade exclaimed, "Sasuke?!" in a tone of shock a little of fear.

Sasuke entered through the window as the Hokage stood up from her chair.

"Why are you here? Is something wrong with Naruto? Is he alright?" Tsunade asked, probably assuming that the only reason Sasuke would leave Naruto's side was for an emergency.

In a calm tone, Sasuke assured, "Naruto is fine."

Tsunade slumped back into her chair in relief. Then she asked, "Then why are you here?"

Ignoring her question, Sasuke just said, "Naruto was not being entirely truthful when he agreed to seeing his visitors today."

When Tsunade gave him a confused look, he continued, "He does not mind that people want to see him, but he does not want a large number to visit him all at once. No more than four people at a time."

Tsunade looked a little shocked, but the expression was quickly wiped away as she nodded, "Of course, seeing so many strangers _would_ be overwhelming…even for the gaki…"

"Hn." Sasuke grunted, preparing himself to leave and go back to the hospital when the door opened.

Sakura walked into the office with a stack of papers, speaking as she did so without looking up, "I just got back from letting everyone know that Naruto's up for visitors, Master. We're all excited and ready to meet at the hospital about an hour before the end of visiting hours. Oh! And these are from Shizune! She says that you need to sign these before the end of the day."

After she closed the door, she looked up to see Tsunade sitting at her chair, and Sasuke standing next to the window.

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed, hurrying over to the desk to drop her stack of papers, "It's such a surprise to see you here! Do you have a mission? You shouldn't, because Naruto needs you at the hospital. How is he, by the way? The Kyuubi is healing him up, right? Naruto always has been a quick healer. He shouldn't have to stay at the hospital for too long…though he _did_ get very injured at hat last mission…I almost didn't believe it…I mean it's _Naruto_…"

Not wanting to listen to the bubble-gum haired girl babble any more, Sasuke turned to the window again with every intention of leaving.

"Wait—" Sakura called, grabbing hold of Sasuke's elbow.

He did stop, but to glare at her slightly. It wasn't a full Uchiha Glare, but he certainly let it be known that he still couldn't stand it when she—or anyone else besides Naruto—touched him so familiarly, even though that happened much less frequently than before he left the village.

Sakura withdrew her hand and clutched her other arm across her chest and averted her eyes as she asked in a softer, more timid tone, "Is…is it true?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this; a silent question for what.

Glancing up at him quickly before returning her green eyes to examine her boots, Sakura asked in a slightly stronger tone, "Is it really true that Naruto won't recognize us? That he lost his memory?"

Sasuke knew that this was a sensitive subject, especially since he knew that Sakura blamed herself, but he wasn't going to sugar-coat anything. That was Naruto's job; Sasuke was the one out of the two who never sugar-coated the truth…unless it was for Naruto's sake.

He would put layers of sugar on any lie he would tell if he knew the truth would be too much for Naruto.

Turning to face Sakura completely, Sasuke said, "Yes."

Sakura flinched, even though Sasuke's tone was not harsh. Then tears started to fill in her eyes until they started to fall down her cheeks.

She tried to wipe them away, but ended up burying her face into her hands with silent sobs because the tears wouldn't stop.

Sakura was probably blaming herself.

Sasuke wanted to mentally roll his eyes because it wasn't as if _she_ had to endure her most precious person, someone whom she shared her most treasured memories with and frequently assured each other of their undying love, look at her and not even know of their relationship of their own violation.

But he didn't. He may not have much sympathy for her pity-fest that she was most likely putting herself through—blaming herself for Naruto's injuries, wondering why she couldn't have done something to help, wondering why couldn't she ever do anything to help, the usual insecurities she insisted on keeping—but he knew how much she meant to Naruto.

Naruto would never forgive Sasuke if he learned that he had witnessed Sakura crying and did nothing to comfort her.

Mentally sighing, he spoke in a calm and clear voice, "It's not your fault. It was those rogue ninja's faults for ambushing the mission in the first place. We both know that Naruto would have hurt himself even worse and might have ended up in a coma or suffered permanent brain injury if he knew that you or those other two were nearby."

The force of Sakura's sobs had ebbed away, but her face was still buried. So Sasuke actually _did_ mentally roll his eyes.

"I've been telling him stories about our days as Genin. He knows who most everyone is, and knows that everyone visiting him today is a close friend of his. All he needs now is to match a face with a name, though he is worried that his not remembering people will offend them." Sasuke told her.

It took a moment, but Sakura's sniffles finally died away.

While Sakura turned away to wipe her eyes, Tsunade gave Sasuke an approving nod. Apparently he did a good job at comforting his old teammate. Whatever, he just hoped that it would not become a constant thing. He honestly did not care if Sakura or anyone else—besides Naruto—cried in front of him and would most likely leave them to their own problems.

Then Sakura turned back to him with determination in her slightly puffy and red eyes.

Noticing this, Tsunade said, "Sasuke was just coming over to let me know that Naruto doesn't want to be overwhelmed with a large number of visitors all at once and suggested no more than four people at a time."

Nodding her pink head, but keeping eye contact with Sasuke, Sakura answered, "Understood. I'll be sure to pass the message along. Should we come earlier than an hour before visiting time is over, or keep to the original plan, but dividing up the time?"

Sasuke considered the time for a slight moment before answering, "An hour before closing."

Sakura nodded again and walked briskly out of the office, calling over her shoulder, "I'll let everyone know now!"

Sasuke turned once again towards the window so he could leave and finally go see Naruto again. Even though he needed a break, Sasuke only required a small one. He did not want Naruto to be left alone for too long in case something happened to him, like recovering his memories, or even recovering a single memory. Sasuke should not have stayed away for so long.

Before he could open the window, Tsunade spoke up from behind him, "Are you intending on warning everyone on not telling Naruto the nature of your relationship with him?"

Sasuke mentally sighed. If it wasn't annoying idiots constantly squawking questions at him, it was Tsunade attempting to admonish his choices, even though they were for the greater good.

"Hn," he grunted, not needing to turn around to know that they each had their back to each other.

"He's going to find out eventually, you know." Tsunade warned, as if he didn't already know this.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted again. Of _course_ he knew that Naruto would find out! But that would not happen until after he had the chance to live life happily without the burdens of his tortured past; without any reminders of his worst memories that Sasuke knew their relationship caused.

"When he finds out, he won't appreciate that you've hidden this from him." Tsunade said in a low tone.

"…That's where you're wrong." Sasuke answered her before opening the window and jumping out of it.

Yes, maybe Naruto would be annoyed that Sasuke hid this from him, but Naruto would also know that Sasuke did this for him; so he would not have to be burdened by the complexities of their relationship.

Without knowing their connection, Naruto had the chance to live a _normal_ life for a while. To not be the Kyuubi vessel, to not be the boyfriend of the traitor, but to be free.

And Sasuke would protect Naruto's one chance for true freedom, no matter the cost to himself.

* * *

><p><strong>And that was the chapter!<strong>

**So Thanksgiving break is over, forlorned sigh. I usually spend this break in New York where my grandmother lives, though not in the city. But this year, my mother had work they day before and after Thanksgiving, and my dad left on a business trip on Saturday, so we decided that it was not worth it to drive all the way to New York late Wednesday night, have my mother drive back Thursday night, to drive back Friday night just for us to leave Saturday afternoon so my dad could catch his flight. Understandable, but bumming.**

**In addition to not seeing my grandmother, aunt and cousins, I am also missing out on Black Friday in New York! Oh, I don't shop in New York on Black Friday….no no no no no no no. I avoid THAT like a new black plague. But New York news about Black Friday is the best! Black Friday in New York is craaaaaaaaaaaaazy! But the news is okay at home, too. There were people that were camped outside stores since Wednesday! But to be festive, I wore all black. Now that that is all over and done with, I can fully celebrate CHRISTMAS! Which I have been doing ever since November 16****th****, when Christmas songs started playing on my radio station at home as per tradition! Bwahahahaa, some people at school have nooooooo idea JUST how very into the holiday seasons I get. But they will see…oh yes, they will see :)**

**Anyhoo! Thank you to those who favorite/subscribe! And an extra special thanks to those who review! You guys are my muse's muse and we love ya!**


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